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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: shower · last · land · tear · pitch · cold · row · chip

  1. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. chip — for betting
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. land — to come down
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. land — ground
  9. shower — to wash
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cold — not warm
  12. tear — from crying
  13. land — a country
  14. last — final
  15. row — to paddle
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. shower — rain
  18. tear — to rip
  19. chip — to eat
  20. last — finally
  21. cold — an illness
  22. last — to go on
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. row — a line

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com